Lantern-bail



l. H. MOLTHAN.

LANTERN BAIL. APPLICATION FILED APR. 13, 1920;

1,372,185. Patented Mar. 22, 1921.

INVENTOR JH. Mm THHN,

ATTORNEY UNITED STATES JOHN MOLTHAN, or MovILLE, Iowa.

LA TERN-BAIL.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHNH. MOLTHAN,

a citizen of the United States and a resident of Moville in the county of Woodbury and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful ImprovementsinLantern-Bails,

of which the following is a specification.

My present invention has for its primary object the production of animproved lantern bail so constructed as to be held substantially upright, to be conveniently grasped by the-carrier when the lantern is setting on its base, and yet permit relative oscillation between the lantern and its bail.

Still another object of the invention is the production of a lantern bail, inexpensive and simple in construction, and thoroughly efiicient in operation.

With these and other objects in view, the invention, consisting in the construction, combination and novel arrangement of parts will be fully understood from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which form a part of this application and in which like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, of which,-

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a lantern bail constructed in accordance with my invention and applied to a lantern;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan of one of the bail guides.

Although I have illustrated, and hereinafter described but one embodiment suitable for practising the invention, I would not be understood as being limited to the specific structure chosen for illustration, for many alterations and modifications may he made in the details of construction and arrangement of parts herein disclosed, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

Referring now to the illustrations, the lantern illustrated includes tubular side frame members, 4:, having their upper end portions, 5, horizontally disposed.

The bail proper consists preferably of a.

single piece of wire folded at the approximate center and twisted upon itself for a portion of its length, as at 7, the said twisted portion being curved to form a hook, the folded end of the hook being formed with a depending eye, 8, the lower edge of which is preferably beveled to provide a comparatively sharp edge, 9, the said eye being dis- Specifieation of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 22, 1 921.

Application filed April 13, 1920. Serial No. 373,513.

posed in a plane at substantially right angles of the plane of the hook. The untwisted portions ofthe wire are bent laterally in opposite directions and at right angles to the plane of the hook, as at 10, the extreme end portions thereof being then bent downi wardly, as at 11, and secured to the lantern as will be presently described.

On each side of the lantern I provide improved means whereby the bail is secured to the lantern so as to ermit free oscillation of the bail, yet limlted oscillation, and

when desired support it in an upright position. Each of said devices consist of a sin gle piece of wire having its lower end portion adapted to encompass the associated frame portion, 5, as at 12, the extreme end portion of the wire being hooked or wound securely to the portion of the wire immediately above the member, 5, as at 13. The intermediate portion of the wire is formed with a lateral loop or eye, 14, which extends upwardly a distance, as at 15. The upper end portion is bent at 16, to extend a distance rearwardly, as at 17, thenlooped over sub stantially in parallelism with itself and extended forwardly, as at 18, and extended forwardly of the portion, 15, substantially the same distance as it is rearwardly, the remaining end portion being then bent laterally, as at 19, and twisted, as at 20, on the portion, 15, immediately below the bend, 16, thus forming a forwardly and rearwardly extending loop.

The depending arms, 11, of the bail pass through the above described loop and are provided on their ends with eyes, 21, interlinked with the eyes, 14, which it will be observed are positioned directly below the guide loop. The center portion of the loop side, 18, or that portion directly opposite the bend, 16, is curved outwardly, as at 22, to provide a central recess, 23, on the inner side of the loop side, 18. The bail arms, 11, and the guide loop are so constructed and re. lated that the latter yieldably engage the loop sides, 18. Thus it is clear when the lantern sets upon its base the bail may be held substantially upright by virtue of the arms, 11, being engaged in the recesses, 23, as will be seen from Fig. 3, yet the said arms are free to oscillate between the ends of the guide loops.

The hook of the bail is so formed that the lantern may be hung by placing the end, 9, of the hook on the surface of a ledge as indicated at, 24, in Which position the eye, 9, is substantially alined With the axis of the lantern, and the arms, 11, are disposed in corresponding ends of the guide loops, or if desired the bail may be placed over a carriers arm or hung on a projecting member.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is,

l. A bail for a lantern, comprising a bail proper having depending arms and upright members adapted to be secured to the lantern and provided at their upper ends with forwardly and rearwardly extending guide slotted means and eyes therebelow, the arms beingpassed through the guide slots and pivoted to said eyes.

'2. A bail for a lantern having horizontal frame members, comprising a bail proper rhavlng depending arms, and wlres adapted tobe secured at one end to and extend upwardly from said members, and formed at then upper ends with forwardly and rearwardly extendlng loops, and with intermediate eyes, the arms belng passed through the loops and pivoted to the eyes.

3. A bail for a lantern having horizontal frame members, 'eomprising a bail proper having depending arms, and wires adapted to be secured at one end to and extend upwardly from said members, and formed at their upper ends with forwardly and rearwardly extending loops, and with intermediate eyes, the arms being passed through the loops and pivoted to the eyes whereby the arms may oscillate in the loops, a side of each loop being shouldered to yieldably engage the associated arm to hold the bail in an upright position.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 20th day of March, 1920.

JOHN H. MOLTHAN. 

